Gottfried Kottmann

Gottfried "Göpf" Kottmann (15 October 1932 – 6 November 1964) was a Swiss rower and bobsledder who competed from the mid-1950s until his death by drowning shortly after his second Olympic appearance in 1964.

Biography Kottmann, born 1932 in Zürich, started rowing aged 13 with Belvoir Ruderclub in his home city. They had qualified for the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne but Switzerland was one of four countries to boycott the Games over the Soviet invasion of Hungary. Two of the four rowers remained part of the coxless four that went to the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome, where they came sixth.

Kottmann won a bronze medal in the four-man bobsleigh event at the 1960 FIBT World Championships in Cortina d'Ampezzo.

In 1963, Kottmann won the Diamond Challenge Sculls (the premier singles sculls event) at the Henley Royal Regatta, rowing for Belvoir RC.

At the 1964 European Rowing Championships in Amsterdam, he competed in single sculls and came in sixth place. Two months later competing at the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, he won a bronze medal in the single sculls event.

He drowned in the Rhine at Rüdlingen while taking part in a military exercise as a diver.